Fruit juice extractor



Oct. 20, 1953 J, J, M|TN|CK 2,655,862

FRUIT JUICE EXTRACTOR Filed July 17, 1948 2 Sheets/-Shee'l l Oct.l20, 1953 J. J. MlTNlcK 2,655,862

FRUIT JUICE EXTRACTOR Filed July 17, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sd/wm Patented Oct. 20, i953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRUIT JUICE EXTRACTOR Jacob Jud Mitnick, Chicago, Ill.

Application July 17, 1948, Serial No. 39,242

2 Claims. (Cl. 10B-288) This invention relates generally to fruit juice extractors and more particularly to a small expressing device adapted to be manually operated for use in the home or at refreshment dispensaries.

In a fruit juice extractor of the character here involved, there is provided a stationary part, and a movable part adapted to be forced against the stationary part to express the juice from a piece of fruit placed upon the stationary part. In order to apply considerable force against the fruit for eiciently squeezing the juice therefrom, the ordinary fruit juice extractor is compound acting, that is to say, the pressure applied by means of the movable part is amplied by levers, rack and pinion gear mechanisms, or combinations thereof. For example, the movable part is attached to a rack having a pinion enmeshed therewith, and the pinion is adapted to be rotated by a lever in the form of a handle attached to the pinion shaft.

The mechanical multiplication occasioned by the use of a rack and pinion depends upon the diameter of the pinion. The smaller the pinion the greater the pressure that can be applied to the fruit for a given force applied to the handle. The

amount of rotation of the pinion required to move the rack a given distance increases with a decrease in the size of the pinion. Since the expressing of the fruit is usually done in a cup-like construction, it is necessary to translate the movable part a sufficient distance to permit the insertion of the piece of fruit into the cup-like construction and then reverse the direction of 'movement after the fruit is in place. Thus, the movable part is moved away from the fixed part, the fruit inserted, the movable part moved towards the fixedv part and then pressed against the fruit. While the movable part is moving towards the fruit and prior to engaging same, no work is being done, other than required to move the movable part. Since the usual axis of movement is vertical', this strain on the parts of the device and tires the operator.

Many constructions heretofore have been devised for the solution of this problem by means of disconnectingthe handle or the pinionfrom the rack while the idle portion of the stroke is being accomplished. This has necessitated the use of clutches and other expensive and complicated disconnecting devices besides requiring the operatorV to achieve a certain degree of skill in the efflcient operation of the device. Certain other constructions have provided for the operator pushing the rack against the fruit while permitting the pinion to spin with the handle. This expedient requires the rack to have an exposed part to enable the operator to grasp same. Moreover, the spinning of the handle is dangerous and the number of operations required to express the juice from a piece of fruit isV increased from those required only by the use of a simple rack and pinion device.

One of the objects of my invention is to eliminate each and every diiiiculty heretofore experienced with fruit juice extractors of the character described, as set forth above.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a fruit juice extractorof the character described wherein the mechanism for moving the movable part against the stationary part consists of a simple rack and pinion mechanism, the pinion of which is arranged to be rotated by a conventional handle, but which mechanism is so constructed that for any given constant speed of rotation of the pinion the rack will slide at a vari'-k able speed and have a potential pressure available for squeezing the fruit which varies in an inverse ratio with the speed of movement of the rack whereby the idle'portion yof the stroke is accomplished at high speed and with low leverage am'- plication and y.the working part of the stroke is accomplished at low speed but with high lever-4 work, being aided by gravity, is inconsequential.

size, but only with a loss of efficiency, requiring the operator to exert great pressure when the 55. ,movable part reaches 'the fruit. 'This lplaces age amplification, enabling great pressure to be novel rack and pinion mechanism in` a fruit juice" extractor which will be extremely simple in construction and economical to manufacture.

Other objects of the invention are to provide many importantv advantages enabled by the 'conn struction of the fruit juice extractor herein ide' scribed, including; single stroke operation; novelty of formation of theY parts of Vthev mechanism; decrease in weight, size,'and costwhen compared with prior fruit Vjuicee'xtractors; and, extremel ease andfefciency' of` operation. Y

lIn the detailed description which follows cer extractor constructed in accordance with thel principles of my invention, portions ofthe ex'- tra'ctor being broken away and portionsbeing shown in section clearly to illustratethecone` structional details thereof.

Fig. 2 is a detailed elevational View of rack and pinion mechanism of the fruit juice extractor. Fig. 3. is` a. fragmentary front elevational view ofthe fruit juice extractor with portions shown iny section to illustrate certain details of construction.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken through one of the columns of the fruit juice extractor on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Generally the invention consists of a 'construc-Y tion wherein the movable part of the fruit juice :ff

extractor is secured' on the end of a sliding rack whereby the movement of the rack will carry the movable part against the fruit which is disposed upn the stationary part, the rack having teeth formed therein with conventional prole, but the pitch of which varies, being of generally S or og'ee f0rm,. and having a conventional pinion gearenmeshed therewith, but said pinion being eccentrically mounted and adapted to be rotated with its shaft by an appropriate handle secured to said shaft. Y

As previously explained, the idle portion of the stroke of the movable part isa'ccomplished without any work being` done and hence there is no great need for mechanical multiplication of the leverage exerted by the handle. There is, however, need for speedgan'd the desire to'move the movable part a/great distance with mini-v mum rotation ofthe handle. Accordingly, at this stage of operation, illustrated in Fig. 2, the distance from the center of rotation of the pinion to the pitch line is the greatest, giving the greatest speed ofY movement of the rack with little.. rotation ofthe handle beingrequired. The ratio ofthe moment arms for producing presV sure. along the axis of movement of'the rackis" least over the area of the pinion whichengages` the rack for approximately a third ofthe lcire; cumference ofthe pinion.'v j j Vlresuminf.; thatthe handle hasbeen rotated. the portion of the pinion closer'to the Ycenter ofv rotation thereof now commences tome'sh with the rack teeth, while the movablepart begins to squeeze the fruit. Since' the moment ratio-'is'l now greatly increased, considerable pressure can be exerted by'means ofthe handle'without great effort on theV part of the operator. l'Obviouslyj at this partof the stroke, during which'greatest pressure against the fruit is desiredlthe movable part moves relatively slow, for the same 'rate' of rotation of the handle'. f .A

Referring now to the. drawingsflfjhave. illus-" trated a fruit juice extractor 20 which comprises a base 2| having the feetk22 and provi'dingin the center thereof a. shallowpavity 23.within which. a container, for the extracted. juice is 4 adapted to be disposed. On the opposite sides thereof there are provided a pair of substantially rectangular columns 24 secured to the base 2| by the screws 25. Ihe columns 24 are provided with rectangular cavities 26 throughout their extent and have a connecting substantially hemispherical cavity 21 at the top thereof. The outer sides or faces of the columns 24 are open, exposing these cavities 2.5 and- 21f, and are provided with slightshoulders28 whereby face plates 29 may be secured to said lcolumns by screws 3.4i: thereby enclosing the cavities. `Suitable bosses 3| are provided for the reception of the screws 30. Theplates 29 are similar except that they are reversedright and left, and the right hand plate is provided with a suitable opening for the boss which'isformed on the face of the right hand gear- 61, to be described.

thereof saidV bushings being engaged withinbor'ed seats 36 provided at the ends of the hollow cave'y ity 31 formed in the tube 33'. 'The ends" of the` pinion shaft 34' are formed'irr a manner to be" described. 1

The columns 24 are provided with. integrally formed supporting arms 38 spacedbelow the up?" per ends 39 of the columns" 2liL said arms beingv in the form. of semi-'circular shelves offangu+` V lar cross section facing. one another across the space intervening between' the columns.` 'I'lrese armsV 38 are adapted'to supportadrainage cupf es thereon, with vthe V@stamm-g hangs 4u-'ofthe cup fitting" the 'contour ofthe vertical walls of the arms 38, and a drain spout 4I dspendingJ fromV the cup in theV center- Vofthe 'extractor'Z and forward of the tube 33 in'ortlertoA drain juice; entrapped in the cup. The""1":u1o` 39"carries a" reamer' 42 therein which may be' of any suitable construction, capable of 'aidinjgiinthe extraction' of fruit juice and4 causingjsarne1 to drain offf such as for exampleL bythev slots 43. The fruit i's'adapted v1:0l Ifue Ydisposed upon4 the reamer` 42 and have'the pressurecup forced downwardly upon'the fruit, squeezingsame` bei tweenthe'A convexv portion of the` reamer 42"an'cfl the concaver portion; of the pressure cup-44" `irra' well-known manner. The'pressure cup?- 44is' corr--Vv sequentially adaptedv to' be" elevated 'from' the 'positionshown `in Fgs. 1:"a'rrdljito" the position.' shown in` Fig. 1 2l prior tothe disposing of a :piece: of fruit upon the rea-mer'42'. The 'pressure' cup is 'secured within` the movable cover 45' by means1 of a screw` 4'6'which passes/:throughv the upperf endY 41 of the cup 'A44-and the` base of` a cylindrical-'cavitydll formed; in thecoverw4i5land er1--v gaged by thej'nut' 4'9". Since=the=cupf44should'be removable for enablingcleaning f of*y the sameyth'ei that the iiange 505 of'I -t-he pressure-"cupi must extendl downwardly a sufficient-*amount to rene gage the' flange Ejlfof thereamer 42--('wherr'nc fruit is.V` inplace) order that Ynie-pare'ss'utre exertedgon thefruit be'- ev'eniy distribute-ajena hence the l1cmer-ecigeojfsardfhange-y so' -is spaced below Vthe lower edge 'i52" o ftlrev cover' memberf I Y isoccupied byas V' 53"V which vservesasja'. retainer frth' l' cup` 44"and.against.wlii` 'tl lower ed f; flangefmayfbef drawn. assembl'in hefhead. e deviez@ @1e-read .will begging l.

yFor xpl'anatory urposesn y efleevss' 45, pressure cup 44, retainer 53, and the securing means.

I have thus far described the structure of the device without reference to the means for moving the head 54 up and down in order to cause engagement between the pressure cup 44 and the reamer 42. It will be manifest from the part of the description which follows that the means 'for moving the head is the vital part of my invention since it is by the means so described that I am able to achieve the many advantages and objects of my invention previously pointed out. In the construction described I illustrate and refer to two racks adapted to be attached on opposite sides of the head 54 so that the resultant of pressure applied thereby will be in the center of the device. Other advantages engendered by this construction, namely-using two tension members instead of one, are set forth in my copending application Ser. No. '156,686 filed June 24, 1947, now Patent Number 2,526,258, patented October 1'1, 1950, :for Fruit Juice Extractor, but it is specifically desired to point out that the instant invention is not limited to a two column extractor. The mechanism described and claimed herein is capable of being used in any single column type of extractor with the accrual of all advantages enumerated in connection with this specification.

At each side of the head 54 there is attached a downwardly depending member 55 which 'will hereinafter be termed. a rack. Each rack 55 is of generally rectangular cross section as shown in Fig. 4 and adapted snugly to engage and slide within the cavities 2S of the columns 2li, with the left edge 56 of each, as viewed in Fig. 2 engaging the left han-d edge 51 of the cavities 2S and bearing thereagainst. The upper ends of the racks 55 are secured to the head in any desirable manner such as by welding, or the like. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper ends .are provided with lugs 58 engaging in appropriate openings in the edge of thepressure cup retalner -53 and bent over thereupon. l

The right hand vedge of eachrack 55 is provided with a' toothed formation '59 of peculiar c onstruction. The laws of forming said'teeth 59 need'not be other thanconventional, but the pitch thereof must follow a novel path. It will be noted that the pitch of the gear teeth 5l) is in the form of a reverse curve, or S which gives rise to the teeth indicated at 6e being similar to those formed on an ordinary, externally toothed spur gear; the teeth indicated at l6| being generally similar to those found on a rack; and the teeth indicated at 62 being similar to those formed on an internally toothed gear. Ihe explanation above given is only illustrative, since the pitch radius of the toothed formation varies throughout its entire extent, there being no portion where adjacent gear teeth are of the identical kinematic construction.

On each end of the shaft 34 there is provided a flat portion, the left hand end being indicated at 63 and the right hand end being indicated at 64. The right hand end 64 extends outwardly of the cavity '21 and has the end 65-of the handle 5B pinned thereto whereby the pinion shaft 34 may be rotated by swinging said handle 65. Each fiat lportion 63 and 64 carries a conventional spur gear 61 secured thereto within the respective cavities 21 and arranged in the saine plane as the racks 55, with the teeth thereof engaging the teeth 59. It will be seen 6 that the spur gears are eccentrically mounted on the shafts 34 so that the true center of the gears v61 will oscillate to the right and left of the axis of rotation 6'3 of said gears. The pitch line of the `gear teeth 59 heretofore described is but a development of the pitch line of the gears 161 described on a member translated past the gears 61 perpendicular to the axis of rotation v68.

It will be seen therefore, that if the gears l61 and racks 55 are assembled as shown in the drawings, with the gears engaging the teeth 462 while the head 54 is at the upper extent of `its movement, then as the handle 66 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 as the teeth 62 are engaged, the ldistance from the axis 68 to the point of engagement being greatest the racks 55 will move downwardly at a -greater speed for any given rate of rotation of the handle 66 than if other of the teeth'59 were engaged. In other words, a small amount of rotationk of the handle 66 will result in a greater 'extent of translation of the rack 55 than if the teeth 60 or 6l were engaged. When the teeth S0 are engaged, the distance from the axis of rotation to the point of engagement of the teeth 59 is the leastv (see Fig. 1) and hence, for the same vdegree of rotation used while the gears 61 were engaged at '62, the racks 55 will be translated a comparatively lesser distan-ce.

It will also be obvious from the above,` that the mechanical amplification of the pressure or force applied to the handle -66 being determined by the ratio of the handle moment to the moment measured from the axis 68 to the point of f engagement of the teeth, the amount of pressure which can `be applied by the head will be greatest when the teeth 50 are engaged, 'or at the bottom of the stroke, when the cup 44 engages against the fruit disposed on the reamer 4'2. At the beginning of the stroke, which is the idle portion, no work is done, and hence the loss of mechanical amplification is immaterial.

The structure described makes it possible to eliminate the necessity of turning the handle more than one revolution. v'I'o thatv end, in the embodiment shown, the handle is intended to rotate approximately 270, there ybeing provided a blank portion 69 on each gear for cooperating with stops 10 on racks 55 limitin-g extent of'upward travel of the racks. The pressure available when squeezing the fruit by means of my invention is equivalent to that exerted by a convention-al rack and pinion arrangement in which the radius of the pinion is equal to the distance from the axis of rotation 68 to the point of contact with teeth 60 when the head is in the position shown in Fig. 1. Under these conditions, i. e. with such a small pinion, it would be necessary to rotate the handle 66 at least a few revolutions to complete one stroke of the head' in conventional rack and pinion structures. Likewise, in order to obtain the accelerated movement of the head when the teeth v521 are engaged, a conventional rack and pinion arrangement would require the operator to apply at least a few times more pressure than required with my novel construction.

I do not intend to be limited to the gear arrangement described herein. It is not essential that the gears B1 be conventional spur gears eccentrically mounted and that the teeth 59fbe formed by developing the pitch line of the gears 61 along the rack 55. Any suitable manner of achieving the described actionby a modified rack and pinion structure is believed to comewithin the. scope ofv my invention,4 The pinion and rack rneed:.only be. formed so that the distance from thepointy of engagement oi the gear teethI to the axis of Yrotation when-measured perpendicular to the lineof translation vary to provide a large movement and low mechanicalamplification dur.- ing the idle portion; of. the stroke andsmall movement and high mechanical ampliicationduring thevvorking part of the stroke:

It ispreferable although not required that the racks 55 together. with the toothed formation 5S thereof be formed by stamping. same from sheet metal-blanks. |Ifhis provdesa highly economical methodl of producing the mechanism of the device; The gears 61 could also beI stamped from metal blank-s. .Such fabrication methods eliminaterthe need for expensive machinery to holo or machine the rack. and pinion portions ofrny device; The development ofthe profiles need not require mathematical calculations but Vinstead may be evolve-d empirically, or by trial; and error. Various combinations oi gear profiles may be f sernbinedl to obtain the. desired construction.

Further explanation should not be necessaryl to ,those-skilled inthe art, it.l also being obvious-that the details of the invention are capable of Wide variation withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as dened in the appendedV claims.

What I claimy and desire to secure by Letters Patent-of the United. States'is:

1-. Ina juice extractor ofthe character d escribed, which includes a fruit supporting member hav-ing means. therein to permit Vthe juice to be drained from the member, and.l a movable member adapted; to be ,moved-relativeV to the supporting member for expressing. juice from' a fruit supported in the latter member, a base having thereon aA pair ci columns, eachhaving. an` elongate rack slideway therein; arack disposed in each slideW-ay and 4adapted-to be reciprocated therein,v each' rack having teeth positioned in. reverseicurves along one edge thereof', saidcolumns havingpavitiesateneV side thereof opposite said vteeth,-operating mechanism including a rotatable vshaft-and an actuating hand-le, said, shaft having portions thereof located in the respective cavities; gears eccentricallly mountedY on said shaft and. having portions thereof,A disposedwithin the respective cavitiesinrY one stage of rotation-of` the shaft, and in another stage of` rotation of the shaft having a portion of the teetlro. said gears disposed outside of thev respective cavities, all of said gear teeth being adapted toerig-age the teeth of the respective racks.A

2.V operating mechanism for afrui'tjiiicer of thetypehaving a base,I a pair of standards. thereon, a. fruit supporting member rigidly mountedjon the' topf of said standards,v and. a. head. siidabl'y associated with the standards for cooperation with the fruit. supporting member to compress the fruit' and express the j-uice, s ai'dV operating mechanism comprising `rack/s having. lteeth posi.- tioned. in reverse curves along. one. edge therf, said standards having cavitiesV at one side thereof opposite s aid1 teeth and. located adjacent. the. upper ends of the standards, a rotatable shaft extendtransversely through the standards arid. having, portions thereof located in the respective eavities,- gearseccentrically mounted on. sfai'd sha'f-.tl and having portions thereof in one stage of the rotation of the shaft. disposed within the respective cavities and in another' stage of rotationlof the shaft having a portion. of the teeth of the gears disposed outside of the respective cavities, all said gear teeth being adapted to engage the teethrot the respectiverackaand 'an-actuating handle on one end of the-shaft.

J'' JUD" CK` References Cited ir'i the. le ,ofA this pfa'itent" UNITEDA STATES PAII-*ENTs-- Spr-nigrord- -..I4-auf..." Apr; 1; 1595.2' 

